Eser Kemal Gürcan

Comparison of growth curves using non-linear regression function in Japanese quail

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to determine the goodness of fit of Gompertz, Logistic, Von Bertalanffy, Richards, Levakovich and Janoschek growth models in Japanese quail. Therefore, weekly live-weight data obtained from 372 females and 339 males were fitted. Females’ live weights were found to be higher than that of males, and the first divergence in the growth of female and male birds occurred in 21–28 days, and it survived until the experiment (P < .001). The coefficient of determination (R2), adjusted coefficient of determination (adj. R2), mean square error (MSE), Akaike’s information criteria (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) were used to determine the best growth model. R2 and adjusted R2 values of the growth models were similar and close to 1, indicating that all models perform well in describing age-related changes in live weight in quail. Based on the MSE, AIC and BIC values, Richards model was determined to be the best fitting model to the growth data of both sexes. Consequently, it has been demonstrated that Richards function which has a flexible structure in terms of inflection point is the most appropriate growth function for both female and male birds.

Comparison of Fatty Acid Composition between Female and Male Japanese Quail Meats

The objective of the present study was to compare the proximate analysis, fatty acids composition, omega fatty acids, trans fatty acids (TFAs), and ratio of the total poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and total saturated fatty acid (SFA) of female and male quail meats. Significant differences were not observed between pH, crude fat, moisture, and ash content of female and male quail meats (). The male quail meat had higher fat and ash contents and lower moisture content than those of the female quail meat. The pHs of male and female quail meat were found to be 6.22 and 6.21, respectively. The results of the fatty acid composition analysis showed that C18:1 (42.14–41.23%), C16:0 (24.31–25.76%), C18:2 (13.82–13.42%), and C18:0 (7.49–7.32%) were found as the major fatty acids in the female and male quail meats. Total TFAs, SFA, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and PUFA content of the female and male quail meats were found to be 2.79–2.82%, 33.22–34.65%, 49.70–48.72%, and 14.29–13.81%, respectively.

Effects of monochromatic light stimuli during embryogenesis on some performance traits, behavior, and fear responses in Japanese quails

ABSTRACT Lighting is crucial in poultry rearing and the subjects with light intensity, source, and color having been addressed in numerous studies. Numerous studies with monochromatic light from light‐emitting diode (LED) bulbs have been reported. In the current study, fertile Japanese quail eggs were exposed to a dark environment (Control) or monochromatic green (560 nm) and blue (480 nm) lighting throughout incubation. There were no significant differences in hatch weight, hatchability, total embryonic mortality, hatch time, growth performance, and slaughter‐carcass traits in the study (P > 0.05). Furthermore, the lowest mean in terms of early embryonic mortalities (12.37%) was determined in the group treated with green LED lighting (P < 0.05), whereas it was discovered that the lowest mean in terms of late embryonic mortalities (13.59%) was in the group treated with blue LED lighting (P < 0.05). During the test time, the green LED group showed higher averages in terms of the number of peeps and first defecation time as response to environmental stimuli (P < 0.05). The highest mean for jumping (7.6 times) was detected in the group treated with blue LED lighting (P < 0.05). In conclusion, it was revealed that the blue and green LED lighting applied to the Japanese quail eggs in incubation had no effects on incubation traits, growth, and slaughter‐carcass traits but had positive effects on some behavioral traits.

Jersey ineklerinde süt verim özelliklerine ait genetik ve çevresel parametrelerin tahmini

Bu calismanin amaci, Turkiye’nin Samsun ilinde bulunan Karakoy Tarim Isletmesi’nde yetistirilen Jersey ineklerinin test gunu sut verimi (TGSV), laktasyon sut verimi (LSV), 305-gun sut verimi (305-GSV), sut yag orani (YO) ve sut protein orani (PO) icin genetik parametre ve cevresel faktorleri tahmin etmektir. Veriler, 2011 ve 2013 yillari arasinda buzagilamis 170 bas inegin 279 sut verim kaydindan elde edilmistir. Laktasyon sirasi, buzagilama mevsimi ve buzagilama yili sabit faktorler olarak dikkate alinmistir. Kalitim derecesi, eklemeli genetik varyans ve fenotipik varyans, bireysel hayvan modelinde MTDFREML ile tahmin edilmistir. Varyans analiz sonuclari, YO haric, TGSV, LSV, 305-GSV, YO ve PO uzerine laktasyon sirasi ve buzagilama yilinin etkilerinin istatistiksel olarak onemli oldugunu gostermistir ( P<0.05) . Ancak, buzagilama mevsimi TGSV, LSV, 305-GSV, YO ve PO’ni etkilememistir. TGSV, LSV, 305-GSV, YO ve PO icin kalitim dereceleri sirasiyla 0.38, 0.30, 0.28, 0.19 ve 0.36 olarak tahmin edilmistir. TGSV, LSV, 305-GSV, YO ve PO icin tekrarlama dereceleri ise 0.35 ile 0.45 arasindadir. Sonuclar, bu ozelliklerin bu surude Jersey sigirlarin genetik olarak iyilestirilmesinde bir seleksiyon kriterleri olarak kullanilabilecegini gostermektedir.

Effects of Breeder Age on Genetic Parameter Estimates of Slaughter and Carcass Traits in Japanese Quail

This study aimed to determine the phenotypic values of the slaughter and carcass traits in the flocks of quails obtained when a flock of parent quails were at 12, 16, and 20 weeks of age and to estimate the heritabilities and the genetic correlations for these traits. For this purpose, a total of 1,346 Japanese quails were slaughtered at 8 weeks of age, and their slaughter weights as well as carcass, breast, leg, and abdominal fat weights and ratios were determined. Differences in all traits were detected between female and male quails (P<0.05). The averages of many important traits, primarily slaughter weight, carcass weight, and breast weight, increased with the increase in the breeder age. On the contrary, the carcass yield decreased (P<0.05). There were no significant variations in the phenotypic and genetic variances for the slaughter and carcass traits in the flocks obtained when the breeder flock was at different ages. The heritabilities for slaughter weight, carcass weight, and abdominal fat weight were estimated to be moderate, and the genetic correlations among them were estimated to be positive and high. In conclusion, it is possible to state that positive results might be obtained by using the carcass ratio as the criterion for selection in quails. Besides, the breeder age was discovered to have had no significant effect on the genetic parameter estimations.

The Detection of STAT1 Gene Influencing Milk Related Traits in Turkish Holstein and Jersey Cows

The main purpose of this study was to detect an association of cytoplasmic signal transducers and activators of transcription-1 (STAT1) with milk production traits in 472 Holstein and 283 Jersey cattle breeds of Turkey. This gene, located on chromosome 2, was chosen due to its role on development of mammary gland. A polymorphism of selected 314 bp allele fragment was detected by the restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified fragments (PCR-RFLP) method and also confirmed by DNA sequencing. The association tests were conducted between STAT1 genotypes and some economically important dairy traits. The genotypes for C/T as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) were identified at interval 60 cM to 63 cM. The effects of STAT1 gene on milk production traits were not significant in Holstein cows, although animals with CT genotypes showed fairly close to significant value for the corrected 305 d milk yield. However, Jersey cows with TT genotype were 2.07 kg higher for test-day milk yield (P < 0.05), 0.13 kg for fat yield (P < 0.01) and 0.07 kg for protein yield (P < 0.05) compared with animals having CC and CT genotypes. Definitely, the further research should be conducted to search this gene intensively with larger samples to identify polymorphism and any association between the economically important traits and genotypic class in Holstein cows. Finally, based on the findings, it was concluded that STAT1 gene might be used as a potential candidate gene to improve milk yield and milk fat and protein contents in dairy cows breeding programs.